New thing learned. When paying a teacher the teaching fee, we should always use NEW money (easily changed in the bank), to show respect to the teacher.
Even 'simple' things are not as simple as first thought...How many other mistakes do we yet have to correct?... Wonder how many people we are offending every day, unknowingly :-S
Apparently today's plan was to go hunting for fresh bamboo shots in the mountains with the chigiri-e group. Unfortunately I had forgotten the plan, so the rest of the gang had patiently waited for me, for over an hour before they finally decided to call me...Embarrassed? Me? I bowed and gomenasaied like I had never done before!
Anyways, - off we went. First stop was at a stream to stock up on fresh drinking water. The white paper decoration on the robe is because the stream is near a shinto shrine. Usually the decorated robe indicates that the place is sacred, or it indicates the presence of the 'kami' or spirit of the place. That kind of paper decoration is said to be the earliest type of paperfolding in Japan.
The surroundings of Koriyama are beautiful, with mountains and rice fields everywhere. This is 'Sakura yama', which means the cherry tree blossom mountain:
The yet unplanted, but already water-filled ricefields offered great reflexions of the mountains.
Unfortunately the fields were not the only place filled with water and before we reached the mountain top, the rain had started to pour down making it impossible to continue on with our original plan. Instead we took a closer look at the local wind mill park (the mills are German though and not Danish hrmpf), and we stopped at a private house for lunch (which did include bamboo and the largest onigiri I have ever had).
Them we returned back to Koriyama with a few stops on the way, first one being this flower field : 
Then we did a small hike,
had another sip of fresh water, with a neat drinking cup made of a leave, 
and ended the day at the public footbath, with natural steaming hot spring water. Nothing can beat the feeling of soothing hot water after a hike.
A laid back weekend in Koriyama included great food, rice field watching, new company, lots of shopping, lots of blog updating and hours of sunshine and strong wind.
We discovered a couple of new eateries. A ramen restaurant with modern style decor and good noodles, a cool restaurant with bamboo all over the place, plates decorated with orchids, modern food from asian countries and a waiter that spoke really good English, and, with a japanese/australian couple we had met earlier that evening we went to a kind of french wine bar. Yep, we have everything in Koriyama, We sure do :)
No kidding, it was a great weekend where we somehow for the first time felt we belong in Koriyama. This is our home now and why not?
P.S. We also went to a really good kaiten-sushi... but as we have already been there a couple of times before it does not really count in this post.
A kaiten is a kind of fast food sushi place, where tiny plates of sushi circulate around in the restaurant on a conveyer belt. Whatever comes by on the belt you like, you just take. When you are full the waiter will count your stable of empty plates and you pay. Our record so far is 22 plates.
Ikebana is the Japanese way of arranging flowers.
The tradition of Ikebana origins from monks hundreds of years ago arranging flower offerings to Buddha. The inspiration for Ikebana is found in the nature and in the end the Ikebana creates a link to the nature. Ikebana is said to have a deep philosophical meaning, thus the work with the flowers are best done in silence. Ikebana is in fact sometimes used as therapy against depression.
There exist many different kinds of Ikebana, but the oldest one is the Ikebono, which is the kind I (Barbara) takes classes in. The basic principle is the three main branches, named Shin, Soe and Tai. They represent heaven, man and earth.
Yesterday I had my first class. The teacher is very skilled and also very welcoming despite the fact that she rearranged every flower I placed in the container. Ikebana is very difficult. Balance, harmony, serenity and respect are some of the values I so far have picked up being important to the process of arranging the flowers. It is much more complicated than I thought. There are many rules to learn, which can be quite difficult as I receive instructions in Japanese most of the time.
Ganbatte kudasai!
When we came back from South Korea, many of the rice fields in Koriyama had been planted. It is a very speciel sight to see the many fields covered with water, with strings of the tiny rice plants.
The fields are not very big, but endeed there are many of them,- squeezed in whereever there are a piece of empty land. One evening we went to take a closer look. Here is our shots: 
In Kalmia, b had the opportunity to learn how to make chinese dumplings, as another member gave a lesson.
It was a fun day - the best detail being the making of the stuffing with only chopsticks! Asian style of cooking :-)
The dumplings ended being delicious. Love them!!!
In the homeland of taekwon-do, we were fascinated by the excellent skills and the perfection by the Korean fighters.
By coincidence, we found a 1½-hour demonstration in front of one of the palaces.
Jumping this high must have been difficult for even Michael Jordan:
This fighter has just walked several meters blindfolded (!) and is kicking of an apple from the tip of a knife!
This kicking technique speaks for itself:
The stills also show the immaculate technique of the Korean fighters (click to enlarge):
On the first photo you can see the whole apple before the kick and on the second photo it is possible to see the pieces of the apple scattered in the air, the sharpe knife and the board that was to be broken in the same kick.
Read much more about taekwon-do here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taekwondo
Since the founder of the Joseon Dynasty moved the Capital to Seoul in 1394 many beautiful palaces have been built.
We visited four of them: Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyenggung and Gyeonghuigung. They all had many resemblances, though the 'newest' one had western furniture and an old Lincoln parked. Feng shui had an important role in deciding the location of the palace.
At the Gyeongbokgung Palace we watched the change of the gate guard as it was done in the 15th century, which gave us an idea of how colourful the Korean culture was during the Joseon Dynasty. 
The drum is used to coordinate the guards’ actions.
The main gate to the Gyeongbokgung palace:
On the roofs of the most important buildings in the palaces are located animal figures. The more animals, the more important is the building:
The animals, led by the Monkey King protect the building against evil forces:
A palace consists of many buildings (one palace used to have more than 300 buildings!). These buildings include residential areas for the royal family (the king and the queen slept separately), administrative buildings for both the king and the government, minor palaces for the queen and the crown prince etc. Many of the buildings were lost during the Japanese occupation.
The inside decor of one of the palaces:
The roofs round shape was chosen to create a balance with the surrounding nature:
The 'secret garden' was only for the royal family, and nobody was allowed in there without the Kings permission. In the garden the King relaxed and regained his energy in a small pavilion for relaxation/meditation, on the pond in his fishing boat, or he studied in a library:
The pavilion:
Henrik in the kings garden:
At one palace, we saw a beautifully dressed couple having their pictures taken. A woman noticed we were looking and explained to us that it was a wedding couple. The woman on the picture is the bride:
Sitting in the palace court - absorbing the place, was a moment we treasured:
The food culture in Korea is quite different from Japan, - whereas food in Japan tend to be mild and delicate and mainly consist of fish, the Korean food is indeed spicy and can be very meaty. The most famous dish in Korea and unavoidable no matter where or what you eat is kimchi, which is spicy pickled cabbage. It is always served as a starter and comes in endless varieties. 
The photo shows a Korean set menu. The kimchi is in top left corner.
Korea is also famous for their barbeque. You receive thin slices of marinated raw meat, and grill it yourself at the table, then roll them up in freash lettuce and voilá!. This dish has become quite popular in Japan as well and is Henriks favourite. 
The pride of all food products might be the Red Ginseng, that only grows in Korea, Northern China and Siberia. It is a slow grower - best harvested after 6 years and is therefore quite expensive. It is said to be effective against stress, some types of cancer and diabetes type II. The red ginseng comes in tea, capsules, liquids, fresh and dried slices etc, and is found all over Seoul.
The Koreans also use the above products (chilli, kimchi and ginseng) in chocolate. Different!
Our most local food experience in Seoul, was at a restaurant in the Nandaewon area, where we each had a soup with a whole (!) chicken in, stuffed with rice and ginseng - with a ginseng-'whiskey' on the side of cause. See, now we are talking :-)
As in Japan, the Koreans eat with chopsticks, but made of metal instead of wood.
Tea takes up an important role in the culture as well. Korea has their own tea ceremonies and teahouses are a common sight. The variety of tea is much more abundant in Korea than in Japan, with teas made of jujube, aloe vera, ginger and rice, just to mention a few. The Koreans believe teas made with seasonal ingredients provide elements our bodies crave at particular times of the year thus the tea assortment varies through the year.
Korea gave us a good opportunity to explore another Asian food culture, which was very nice. Only one evening we had Japanese kaiten (sushi from a conveyer belt) in Seoul... Kaiten has become our Danish rugbrød - the one thing our body crave when we are abroad.
